


A Hero to the People

by kibblesnbits



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: (its just mentioning a robbery scene), (its not really even described i just thought i'd tag it just in case), Diego Hargreeves is a Hero, Diego Hargreeves-centric, Fire, I just think Diego is neat, I'm not good at tagging, Non-Graphic Violence, Non-graphic Injury description, Vigilante Justice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25910770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kibblesnbits/pseuds/kibblesnbits
Summary: Diego Hargreeves was not a hero to his father. He was, however, a hero to his town.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Eudora Patch
Comments: 1
Kudos: 35





	A Hero to the People

**Author's Note:**

> i took some liberties with certain things bc. heehoo? enjoy

The first time Diego was called a hero was after he saved a little girl. 

There had been a fire at an apartment building a few blocks from him. Someone had left an open candle near some sort of _very_ flammable fabric, and it had all gone to shit. It had gotten so bad that he didn’t even have to listen to the scanner to know where it was, as the plumes of smoke could be seen from miles away. 

When he arrived at the scene, it was almost as chaotic as his siblings were on a Saturday morning. Firefighters rushed from truck to truck, carrying people in their arms. Officers sat in a corner huddled around the security footage, trying to figure out the real culprit. Sitting on the curb was the group of evacuated tenants, most of them looking just a bit shaken up, but some… 

“Please!” a woman ran up to a firefighter near Diego, “please! My baby’s still in there-- you have to get her, please!” 

“Ma’am, we’re trying our best,” the man tried his best to calm her down, “there was a bigger fire on the other side of town. Most of the stations got sent there, so we’re working with what we can manage--”

The woman cut him off, burying her head in her hands and wailing. “You have to save her-- she’s only five! Apartment 411-- she’s in apartment 411-- please!” 

Diego didn’t stick around to listen to the rest of the conversation, sighing internally and rushing into the fray. 

\---

It was so hot in the building, he felt as if his skin was burning right off. Maybe this was a terrible idea… running into a burning building was the one dangerous thing his father warned against. 

_“Buildings on fire are dangerous, children,” Reginald tapped his cane against the floor, eyeing all of them, “do not enter one unless wearing the proper equipment. If I hear you have gone against this warning, there will be consequences.”_

Diego shuddered. Thinking about his Dad in a moment wasn’t the best idea, he supposed. 

The higher he got in the building, the worse the fire got. When he finally made it to the fourth floor, he held a torn piece of cloth to his mouth, trying to breathe through the horrid conditions. 

He counted the apartment numbers in his head as he went down the hallway. 401 was on the left, so he stumbled down towards the right side. 408, 409, 410-- 411!

Rushing forwards, Diego coughed violently. Patch would kill him if he died in this, but he pressed on. 

The door was heavy, but he was stronger, and he slammed his body against it. The door was knocked clean off its hinges, and he would worry about damages at a later date. 

“Anyone in here?!” he coughed, stepping into the apartment. He went quiet, focusing on trying to hear a sound. 

There was a small cough, and he bolted towards the noise. 

After wrenching open a door painted with colored handprints, he found a small girl clutching a stuffed animal in her hands, coughing even worse than Diego. She seemed to be stuck under some kind of debris, but it wasn’t too much that Diego couldn’t just lift it off of her. 

“C’mon,” he held a hand out, “let’s get you out of here.”

She was hesitant at first, but quickly grabbed his hand after there was a loud crack from above them. He pulled her into his arms, and began to run down the stairs as fast as he could. 

Pieces of the ceiling were falling down next to him, and he braced himself for impact as he twisted his body to take the brunt of the blows from the current debris. 

He stumbled out of the building right as the roof began to collapse in on itself, setting the girl on the ground with a huff. 

“There you go, kiddo,” he ruffled her hair a bit, “let’s go find your mom--”

“Abigail!” the woman from before was sprinting towards them, taking the girl-- Abigail-- in her arms and weeping loudly. 

“My baby girl, you’re alright--” she sobbed, looking up at Diego. “Thank you-- oh God thank you so much. You’re a hero, how can I repay you--”

“Hero?” Diego stood there for a moment, staring at the woman incredulously. “You… really think that?” 

The woman nodded vigorously, still crying quite a bit from getting her child back to her. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if she wasn’t able to get out of there.” 

Diego still said nothing, but looked down when he felt a tug on his hand. 

“Thank you,” Abigail smiled a little smile up at him, letting go of his hand and curling up her fist. She wanted a fist bump. He complied, and she giggled, turning back to her mom and walking off. 

Waving, Diego smiled. _Hero, huh?_

_Suck it, old man._

\--- 

The second time Diego was called a hero was when he didn’t feel like one. 

He had stopped a robbery around midnight, when a few people decided to rob a gas station. One of the 7 people in the station was severely injured before Diego managed to stop the robbery. 

He was too late to stop the culprit from attacking a civilian. Diego had reacted quickly, immobilizing the attacker and knocking the other out, but the damage had been done. 

The police came, he was told off by Eudora another time, and he left with a heavy heart. 

“It wasn’t your fault, Diego,” Eudora had found him sitting by himself in a local cafe, glaring into his coffee. “It was stupid, yeah, and I’m getting tired of dealing with your vigilante justice, but you tried your best.”

“My best wasn’t good enough,” he grumbled, tapping the side of the cup with his fingers. “If I had shown up earlier I would’ve--”

“Would’ve what?” Eudora sat in the seat across from him, folding her hands in front of her on the table. “Taken the hit? Then you wouldn’t have been able to deal with the robbery in full. You did more good awake than knocked out and stabbed.”

“So?” he snapped back, “I still wasn’t fast enough! If I were still with my family, the alarm would have somehow gone out _hours_ before the damn robbery, because my dad’s somehow a damn wizard.” He huffed into his coffee. “Proves him right, I guess.” 

“Right about what, Diego,” Eudora waved a waitress down, ordering a coffee for herself. 

“That I’m just chasing dreams,” Diego said, “he told me if I left, I would only be pretending. Trying to fill a role I wouldn’t be able to.” 

“That role would be?”

“The role of a hero.” 

“Diego,” Eudora sighed, “I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but…” she pressed a finger to her temple. “You’re definitely a hero to them.”

“To who?” he asked. 

“The people in this town,” she said, “those people you save. The ones we can’t get to on time. I don’t like how you do it, Diego, but… people like you.”

Diego sat back in his chair, taking another sip of his coffee. 

“They… really think that?” his voice was a bit smaller, a bit more unsure. 

“Yes, Diego,” she nodded, smiling ever-so-slightly. 

“You’re a hero to the people.”

**Author's Note:**

> please leave any concrit in the comments!! i really enjoy feedback and want to grow even more if possible


End file.
